Beijing Photoshoots

Locations

Where to shoot in Beijing

The Forbidden City is the obvious one, and the thing to know is that the best picture of it is taken from outside. Jingshan Park sits directly behind it on an artificial hill, and the view south over the golden roofs from the pavilion at the top is the definitive Beijing shot.

Inside, the red walls and the long empty courtyards early in the day are worth the ticket and the queue.

The Temple of Heaven and its Hall of Prayer for Good Harvests — the circular blue-tiled roof on a white marble terrace — sit in a large park where locals practise tai chi and play cards each morning.

The hutongs around Nanluoguxiang and the Drum and Bell Towers are the human-scale Beijing: grey brick, red doors, bicycles and courtyard gates.

The Summer Palace gives you Kunming Lake, the Long Corridor and the Seventeen-Arch Bridge, and it needs most of a morning.

The Great Wall at Mutianyu or Jinshanling is two hours out and a different kind of day entirely. Mutianyu is restored and accessible; Jinshanling is rougher, further and emptier.

Timing

Autumn is the season worth planning around

September and October are Beijing's best months by a distance — clear air, mild temperatures, blue skies and golden ginkgo leaves across the city. If the dates are yours to choose, choose these.

Spring can bring dust and sand carried down from the north, which flattens the light and the visibility for days at a time.

Summer is hot, humid and prone to heavy afternoon rain. Winter is bitterly cold and very dry, but the air is often sharp and clear, and the Wall under snow is exceptional.

Air quality varies and has a direct effect on long-distance shots like the Jingshan view and the Wall. We watch it against your date and will say honestly if a morning is not worth taking.

What to wear

Red walls change what works

Beijing's signature backgrounds are vermillion walls, golden roofs and grey brick. Deep blues, cream, white and black all hold up against that. Red on red disappears.

The Great Wall involves real climbing on steep, uneven, often slippery stone. Whatever you wear in the frame, travel in proper footwear.

Winter here is severe and the sites are open and exposed. Layers under whatever you want to be photographed in are the normal approach.

Before you go

Tickets, passports and site rules

The Forbidden City operates on timed advance tickets tied to passport details, sells out in peak periods, and is closed on Mondays for much of the year. It genuinely has to be booked ahead rather than attempted on the day.

Several major sites restrict tripods, lighting equipment and commercial photography, and the rules differ from site to site. We establish what is allowed before building a shoot around a location.

Tiananmen Square and the surrounding area have security screening and their own regulations. We plan around that rather than through it.

The hutongs are residential neighbourhoods where people live closely together. Early and quiet is both better photography and better manners.

Arranging it

How a Beijing shoot gets booked

Beijing shoots are arranged directly with our team rather than booked online. Tell us your dates, how many of you there are and whether you want the palaces, the hutongs or the Wall, and we will confirm what can be arranged and what it will cost.

If the Forbidden City or the Great Wall is the point of the trip, contact us well ahead. Both need tickets and timing arranged in advance.